1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for humidifying breathing air for artificial respiration of mammals, in particular of humans, that includes at least one essentially closed container for receiving water, a first opening in the container for letting non-humidified air in, a second opening for letting the humidified air out, and an inlet for supplying water to the container.
2. Related Art
Devices of this type which in medical terminology are simply called air humidifiers, and in the English-speaking world “humidifiers”, are employed both in outpatient care and in the hospital. As the term used for the device implies, humidifiers are employed for humidifying breathing air in case humans, but also animals, must be artificially provided with air for the most diverse reasons or purposes, or air that must be supplied in addition to normal breathing air. It is known that air for artificial respiration, made available either from air bottles which are under pressure, or directly by means of pumping devices, as a rule do not have the degree of moisture required for the gentle application of artificial respiration to a human or to an animal. A multitude of devices (humidifiers) of the type mentioned at the outset are known in the prior art, all of which have the above mentioned basic typical construction to a greater or lesser extent. Since in the prior art the basic construction of these devices, the areas of their application, and the specific applications of humidified breathing air for humans and for animals are well known, further discussion thereof is not required.
But to the extent that can be observed, the known devices all have one and/or the other disadvantage, which will be separately addressed below. It is obvious that in their operation, that is, in the course of their application for the humidifying of breathing air, these devices are not permitted to exhibit any shortcomings or interferences regarding their functioning. A major problem, which was intended to be overcome in many different constructions, is that in all cases the humidified breathing air leaving the device must not contain water being used in the device for humidifying the air, which could get into the lungs of the human or animal via the breathing air connection between the device and the human or animal. Without addressing this in greater detail, this could have severe consequences, even death, for the human or animal to be supplied with air.
To prevent this, valve structures of various different types have been proposed in the humidifier container which are intended to prevent water, which is picked up for humidifying, to escape from the container together with the humidified breathing air through the outlet and to reach the human or animal to be supplied with air. The solutions proposed up to now that are intended to solve or overcome this problem have the disadvantage, which is unacceptable under any circumstances because of the damage to health connected therewith, that they are all essentially based on the principle that, although a predefined amount of water is always being received in the container and replenished (since the water in the container is used up by becoming absorbed in the air passed through the container) nevertheless, in case of malfunction of the device that controls the replenishment of the water in the container, the device may fail to prevent water from reaching the human or animal whose breathing is to be aided via the outlet for the humidified air, with the disadvantageous results mentioned above, which are often fatal.